I need some Graphic card upgrade advice

[Esparza89]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the community but I think people here really knows their way around computers.
My problem is, I built a gaming pc a year ago with the help of a friend and I'm thinking on upgrading my GPU, the issue is that I have an Asus P8P67 LGA1056 MOBO with an i7 2600k and 8gb of ram @1600 Mhz with a GeForce GTX 560 TI. And I want to upgrade it to a GTX 670, will my mobo and cpu bottleneck it? I ask you this because my mobo doesnt have PCIe 3.0 and I think the processor is fast enough for the GPU but I'm not sure.

Thank you in advance for reading my problem.

[de.das.dude]

no it wont. PCIe 3.0 is actually pretty useless now as most modern cards cannot even use PCIe 2.0 to its full extent.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by Esparza89

GTX 670, will my mobo and cpu bottleneck it?

No, not in the slightest.

[Widjaja]

Just the new standard in PCI-E bandwidth to prepare for future generation graphics cards which will eventually require the band width.

[tokyoduong]

Originally Posted by Esparza89

Hi everyone, I'm new to the community but I think people here really knows their way around computers.
My problem is, I built a gaming pc a year ago with the help of a friend and I'm thinking on upgrading my GPU, the issue is that I have an Asus P8P67 LGA1056 MOBO with an i7 2600k and 8gb of ram @1600 Mhz with a GeForce GTX 560 TI. And I want to upgrade it to a GTX 670, will my mobo and cpu bottleneck it? I ask you this because my mobo doesnt have PCIe 3.0 and I think the processor is fast enough for the GPU but I'm not sure.

Thank you in advance for reading my problem.

Th i7 2600k performs on par with the i7 3770k for the most part. The biggest difference between them is power draw. Your 2600k is still the high end of CPUs so it is not a bottleneck with any GPU.

why are you upgrading from a 560ti? are your games running that slow?

[Esparza89]

Not at all, my games run really good, but I'm gonna have some extra cash in the next months so I was thinking on upgrading to make them run better, but if you think its not necessary yet I would like to hear your opinion, I know people here really knows about this.

Edit 1: Another info is that I don't know how to overclock so neither the gpu or the cpu are overclocked, and I have an ssd for os, programs and games.

[tokyoduong]

Originally Posted by Esparza89

Not at all, my games run really good, but I'm gonna have some extra cash in the next months so I was thinking on upgrading to make them run better, but if you think its not necessary yet I would like to hear your opinion, I know people here really knows about this.

Edit 1: Another info is that I don't know how to overclock so neither the gpu or the cpu are overclocked, and I have an ssd for os, programs and games.

If there's nothing wrong when playing games then you don't need to upgrade. Just stick the cash in your computer until you need the upgrade(or a savings account lol). The urge to splurge is always strong. If you wait 6 months to a year when new games brings your 560ti below 30fps, then you can pick up the same card you wanted now for much less than what it would cost you now.

If you still want to splurge then splurge on your girlfriend or someone important to you. It will probably make you happier than an extra 15 fps on BF3

You can OC your CPU by just upping the multiplier in the BIOS. When you boot up your comp, there's a splash screen and it tells you to press F10 for bios(or whatever it says depending on your motherboard)
Once in the bios, go to advance settings or OC settings(whichever menu the multiplier is in) and bump it up so you can get about 3.8ghz. Then check for stability running prime or whatever you choose. bump half steps from then and repeat. AFAIK, the i7 could get around 4 ghz or more. For you I would stop at 4 ghz since you have little to no knowledge of how it works. I hope you have a decent cooler and case ventilation. I also hope you have 500+Watt psu that is a decent build quality with a strong 12v rail.


OCing the GPU is simpler. There's plenty of software that will do it(NVidia and AMD has it built into their driver software suite in the control panel). You basically slide a bar or type in a number. Just go for 10% OC and then bump it 1% after that until you become unstable. I do not recommend overvolting or other advanced techniques for you. You should honestly just stop at 10% if you don't know what you're doing.

[Esparza89]

Originally Posted by tokyoduong

If there's nothing wrong when playing games then you don't need to upgrade. Just stick the cash in your computer until you need the upgrade(or a savings account lol). The urge to splurge is always strong. If you wait 6 months to a year when new games brings your 560ti below 30fps, then you can pick up the same card you wanted now for much less than what it would cost you now.

If you still want to splurge then splurge on your girlfriend or someone important to you. It will probably make you happier than an extra 15 fps on BF3

You can OC your CPU by just upping the multiplier in the BIOS. When you boot up your comp, there's a splash screen and it tells you to press F10 for bios(or whatever it says depending on your motherboard)
Once in the bios, go to advance settings or OC settings(whichever menu the multiplier is in) and bump it up so you can get about 3.8ghz. Then check for stability running prime or whatever you choose. bump half steps from then and repeat. AFAIK, the i7 could get around 4 ghz or more. For you I would stop at 4 ghz since you have little to no knowledge of how it works. I hope you have a decent cooler and case ventilation. I also hope you have 500+Watt psu that is a decent build quality with a strong 12v rail.


OCing the GPU is simpler. There's plenty of software that will do it(NVidia and AMD has it built into their driver software suite in the control panel). You basically slide a bar or type in a number. Just go for 10% OC and then bump it 1% after that until you become unstable. I do not recommend overvolting or other advanced techniques for you. You should honestly just stop at 10% if you don't know what you're doing.

I like what you say, I'm gonna try those OC tips you gave me, but I wont touch the cpu since I have the stock heat sink and it may not be enough for overclocking, even if I have good ventilation and it's just a little bit.
And I have one more question, which program do you use to see the FPS? the only one I know is Fraps but that can't be the only tool.
edit 1: my psu is a thermaltake 600W.
I always forget to mention something. xD

[tokyoduong]

Originally Posted by Esparza89

I like what you say, I'm gonna try those OC tips you gave me, but I wont touch the cpu since I have the stock heat sink and it may not be enough for overclocking, even if I have good ventilation and it's just a little bit.
And I have one more question, which program do you use to see the FPS? the only one I know is Fraps but that can't be the only tool.
edit 1: my psu is a thermaltake 600W.
I always forget to mention something. xD

yes use fraps as it is arguably the best one right now. Some games has built in benchmarker like Company of Heroes. Some games will display fps for you to see like Star Craft 2.

Don't worry about these stats too much. You only need it to check if something's wrong. If it's working fine then why do you need to care? The only other reason you want to record fps stats is if you got uber cards like ARES II and want to brag about your 300 fps.

Your computer is working like it should. Your games are running smooth. Use your time to figure out how to get rich instead of boosting unnecessary frames that you don't need. Once you're filthy rich, then buy unnecessary stuff for giggles.

[[Ion]]

I have a 2700k in my system--it's plenty fast. I run SLI GTX470s on it.
If you get even a Xigmatek Gaia (~$25) you can get a solid OC easily--I'm running my system at 4.4GHz and it loads ~60-65C.

A GTX670 would make for a very solid upgrade.

[Esparza89]

hmm everything you guys say sounds Ok, but now I have another doubt, how do you pick the right heat sink? I've seen some in the stores but they look too heavy or big, I don't know which to pick.

[[Ion]]

Originally Posted by Esparza89

hmm everything you guys say sounds Ok, but now I have another doubt, how do you pick the right heat sink? I've seen some in the stores but they look too heavy or big, I don't know which to pick.

Where are you located and what is your budget? The Xigmatek Gaia is an amazing budget choice--it's reasonably light, cheap, and performs well. The Antec Kuhler H2O-620 and Corsair self-enclosed kits perform a bit better and don't have as much weight hanging off the motherboard, but are obviously more expensive.

[Esparza89]

I live in Mexico at about 4 hours from El Paso Tx. I don't really need it or going to buy it right now. I'm just trying to get info to make the right decision the next time I go to El Paso.

[tokyoduong]

Originally Posted by Esparza89

I live in Mexico at about 4 hours from El Paso Tx. I don't really need it or going to buy it right now. I'm just trying to get info to make the right decision the next time I go to El Paso.

Buy the Corsair H60 kit. It's cheap and on sale a lot. It's pretty sturdy and the quality is there. Saves you a ton of space compared to the heatsink/fan set up people are suggesting for you.

[Esparza89]

I'm really liking the idea of buying the Corsair H60 and try the overclocking instead of buying a new graphics card. Though I will have to read and learn a lot about overclocking, if you guys could give me some links to complete guides of overclocking cpu and gpu, and PC colling systems that would be great.

[tokyoduong]

overclock.net and overclockers.com

if they don't have an article I'm sure someone posted a guide in their forums. You can overclock with the stock hsf but it will probably throttle at some point.

Buy Artic silver 5
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H60
CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60 High Performance L...

It's pretty simple to install. You don't really need instructions. You must go in bios and set which ever fan you plugged the pump into to 100%. The pump must run at 100% but the radiator fan can be set on auto to vary speed and keep noise down. Watercooling kit also keeps the heat out of your case also because you mount the radiator on the back grill of the case.

Just bump multiplier for now. Learn more and play with it. Before you do anything, you must accept the risk that your warranty is voided and the small possibility of something failing.

There's a lot of safeguards built into the motherboards these days and OC is more simplified IMO. Bios are also better and OC friendly also.